Moving On
by LaughingOwl
Summary: Set years after the current Diamond and Pearl series, Ash and Misty try to forget how much they loved each other, once. "Dawn's beautiful, she's inspiring,- but she isn't you, Misty. I'll never be able to let go of you, no matter how hard I try."


"If I'd known how you felt, I would never have left." Water glittered over the ink-black lake and played into his soft, dark eyes.  
He jammed his hands in his pockets and shot her one useless smile, postured so he appeared to be shrinking into himself as she watched.  
He'd grown so tall since she'd last seen him... such a man, now. They'd changed so fast, and she wondered if she was the only one who wished vehemently that they could have stayed the same.

"I want to believe you, but that would be silly. You left because you had to be the best, had to eclipse us all. Even me. Don't try and act cute," She tried to keep her voice even, but her unsteady heart wore away at her reason and tremors slipped through. "-how is she?" She wanted to bite her tongue for asking. It was masochism, plain and simple, but she couldn't help herself. Her long red hair wisped around her expression, polite and as devoid of feeling as she could make it.

He fumbled with his answer.  
"She's, uhm, she's good. You heard about her award, probably? It was all over the news. Here, I've got a picture-"  
The woman was tall, slim, and beautiful, slick slate-blue locks of hair sliding down her back and to her hips. She was smiling, looking surprised and pleased, holding an equally happy pokemon- a petite, fuzzy blue-and-white creature with twin yellow electrical sacks, almost reminiscent of pikachu. Misty took it gently and returned it quickly.

"Pikachu?"  
"With Dawn back home. Him and Pachirisu get along really well, I thought it'd be a shame to separate them."  
"You're not here very long..."  
"No, no, just a few weeks. Look, Misty-"  
"Yes?"  
"...I meant what I said." He looked so serious, so handsome and solid. Such a success. Pokemon champion of the world, his own gym, the greatest and no less. His beautiful coordinator wife at his side, the ultimate power couple.

She smiled wryly.  
"You meant what? That if I had told you I wanted you stay, you'd have stayed? I'm not buying that. If you'd wanted to stay, you would have stayed. But you left, so that's that. You can't just admit you screwed up and expect me to erase those memories, Ash. Even a stupid boy like you should know that." She gave him a stiff, condescending pat on the hand. He readjusted his cap, brushed the locks of fuzzy black hair form his forehead and refused to meet her eyes for what seemed to her like a full minute.  
"...I still love you."  
"Bullshit!" She snapped, because that was too much, even for her, in love with him as she had been for so long. Hurt had taught her something.  
"I do! Dawn's beautiful, she's inspiring, she makes me want to train harder and be better- but she isn't you, Misty. I'll never be able to let go of you, no matter how hard I try." He sounded endearingly desperate, and his hands were grasping hers with excessive force. "Well, try harder. We're grown-ups now, Ash. It's not that easy. She's in love with you, you married her, for god-sake- you should have remembered me then!" Her composure was being destroyed, word by word by honest word.

"I know," He sighed, let go of her hands. "I know."  
His shoulders slumped as he looked out across the moonlit lake. "This was where we met, you know." He mumbled.  
She laughed and hugged his shoulder, kissing his cheek despite herself.  
"Of course I know, you idiot. You think I forgot? I would never forgive myself."

The silence was rife with emotion, and it lasted far too long, their eyes locked to each other's, trying to convey in an instant years and years of unsaid things that could never be expressed. But it was too late, so she laughed again and flopped to the grass, patting the spot next to her as she dipped her feet in the ice cold water.

"Sit with me?"

He did. She leaned her head against his shoulder, and he put his arms around her as best he could. The points of light glittering across the water blinked in and out of existence.  
The dawn set in and obliterated all of the night's beauty, but that was what was supposed to happen.  
They watched, remembered, and let go in silence.

_Please review/comment. I'd love feedback of any kind, even if it's a critique._


End file.
